


mountains out of molehills

by sunkelles



Series: Femslash February 2017 [18]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, F/F, Femslash February, Snaibsel, The Team - Freeform, i hate him, manipulative parenting, season 1 AU, someone kick sportsmaster in the dick for me, zatannamis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-25 18:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9836723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: Paula Crock dies when she falls, and Artemis is left alone with her father. She joins the team as a mole, but will she stay one?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [titaniumsansa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumsansa/gifts).



> a few notes  
> 1\. i'm a white girl who continues to be very white. i tried to add some minor issues related to artemis being vietnamese into this one, but if i did something weird or white or offensive please let me know.  
> 2\. Troi oi is a term i found on multiple sites that's supposed to be "oh heavens" basically. it seems a bit tame for cheshire, but i couldn't find a harder curse words on any websites that seemed legit. i wasn't going to use google translate. (this is included in the white bullshit clause. if that's wrong please let me know)  
> 3\. this is my last fem feb fic of the year! hope that you guys enjoy!  
> 4\. for my best friend. we are slowly filling up the snaibsel tag with gift fics for each other :)

Her father always told her that it was her _destiny_ to get into the family business.

Artemis has watched enough Disney movies to know that destiny is supposed to be something wonderful. She knows how things go in pop culture. Destiny means prophecies. Prophecies mean heroes fated to win, no matter what.

King Arthur, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, _Jesus Christ_

 

Some things are written in the stars. Good would always triumph. Evil would be vanquished, and true love’s kiss would wake the sleeping princess. 

Her father didn’t speak of destiny the same way they did in Disney movies. This destiny is a petty, hungry monster, desperate to devour all happiness in her wake.

It was destiny that her mother would die. It was destiny that her sister would leave her. It was destiny that she’d be left with her father, and that she’d continue in his footsteps. It was destiny she’d become a criminal, just like him, just like her mom, just like her sister.

“Jade left, and she’s still a criminal,” he says, “you’re destined to be one, baby girl. Might as well stay here where someone gives a fuck about you.”

Artemis could say a lot of things about her father, most of them negative, but he _is_ right. He’s the only person who has never left her. Her mother died, her sister ran away, and now she’s left with him.

It’s destiny. Destiny is an otherworldly Eldritch beast, devouring everything in its path. It eats up all other options, and leaves only one path. It wraps its hideous, shadowy tendrils around her and drags her back into the dark. This is destiny like Ragnarök, fated to happen and rip the world apart.

 

A romantic idea, indeed.

* * *

 

  


Artemis is twelve years old. She has spent years training, and she’s trained twice as hard since her mother fell. Her mother always tempered her father, reined him in so that he wouldn’t work his daughters to the bone. But now her mother is in the grave and her father only has her to throw the weight of his expectations onto.

 

Now all of destiny falls onto Artemis’s shoulders.

 

Her moniker is Tigress. Her preferred weapon is a bow and arrow. She had _wanted_ to go by Huntress. She had thought- well, she thought it would be a good way to honor her mother. Her father wouldn’t have any of that, though, so she becomes Tigress. She runs jobs for him and his shady bosses, ironically called “The Light”.

 

She tries not to do unnecessary property damage. She tries not to hurt people she doesn’t have to, and she doesn’t kill people. She _refuses_ to. She knows it’s a low bar, but it’s one that she refuses to limbo under. 

They spend years like this, and when Artemis is fifteen it seems like things might change. Her father takes her out for ice cream. Artemis knows that can’t mean anything good. Her father only does things like this when he wants something from her. That doesn’t mean she’ll turn down the ice cream, though. She never gets nice things like this.

 

She stabs her spoon into the mint chocolate chip scoop, and takes a bite. She lets the ice cream melt in her mouth, then chews the chocolate bits.

“Alright,” Artemis says, “what do you want?”

“Can’t a guy take his daughter out for ice cream?”

“You only do nice things when you want something.” He shrugs.

“Looks like you got me all figured out.” Artemis laughs bitterly. Every time Artemis _thinks_ she has her father figured out, he surprises her. It’s rarely in a good way.

“What do you want?”

“You’ve heard about the Junior Justice League,” he says. Artemis has. It’s kind of hard not to when it’s literally all that her father and the Light members are talking about. She nods.

“You’re about the same age as the kids on it, and you have a skill set you could use to pass as a superhero.” Artemis feels something yucky settle in her stomach.

“You want me to infiltrate it,” she says dryly.

“That’s about right.”

“What all will it cover?” Artemis asks cautiously. She can’t get rid of the sickening feeling in her stomach.

“You’ll be a double agent, Artemis,” he says, rolling his eyes, “come on, you know what it means.” It feels wrong. Artemis knows that she’s a criminal. She’s been doing this for years, and crime is in her blood. She knows that playing double agent shouldn’t be the worst thing she’s ever done. It shouldn’t make her feel so disgusting, but the very idea of it feels wrong to her.

The idea of gaining someone’s trust, only to stab them in the back just feels disgusting. Even though it’s the heroes, even though she knows they’ll never accept her. She’s not even sure she wants them to, but she can’t shake the feeling. It feels like Jade leaving her.

“What if I like them?” Artemis asks. Her father rolls his eyes.

“You’ll never be one of them,” he says, “so you don’t have to worry about betraying your friends, or whatever. They won’t _be_ your friends.” Artemis hasn’t had friends in _so_ long. They’ve moved around so much that she can’t put down any roots. She wonders if that’s why, so her dad doesn’t have to worry about losing her.

“But what if-”

“No one else is ever gonna care about you, baby girl." She wants him to be wrong. She wants it so badly, but she doesn’t know if she believes it. Instead, she nods. She knows that she isn’t going to get out of this, no matter how she feels about it.

* * *

  


A week later, Artemis is settled in with a host family in Star City, to try to fool Green Arrow into taking her under his wing. Her “host” family is about as nice to her as she can expect. She’s a literal parasite. They’re in debt to the Light, and this is how the organization is making them repay it. Taking in a stranger’s criminal child, and creating an entire backstory to explain why she hasn’t always been around.

 

The husband is Korean, because apparently even her damn father thinks that all Asians are interchangeable. Gee, thanks dad. At least the wife is white and blonde, which can explain away her crazy cocktail of a phenotype.

 

The whole situation is scary for them, and it makes them uncomfortable. They don’t want her around. They don’t say that outright, afraid of retribution from the Light, but Artemis can tell just by the way that they act around her. She understands, of course. Taking her in is payment to the Light, and the Light guards their debts jealously and their secrets more so. They might end up dead by the end of this.

She tries not to think about that part a whole lot.

 

Artemis has to go out heroing for weeks before Green Arrow finally takes notice of her.

He’s been having some problems with his original sidekick, Red Arrow (née Speedy). Whether or not he offers her that ugly ass hat and terrible name, she’s not going to accept it. That’s where she draws the line.

Green Arrow is a little awkward, but also sweet and funny. He reminds her of the dads in movies. He offers to take her out on some patrols and asks to meet her parents. Her host parents were told they might have to meet with him, and they put on a good enough show and sell her cover story. A few weeks later, Green Arrow asks her if she’d like to join a team of superheroes. She says yes even though she doesn’t want to.  


She comes to meet the Team a few days later. As Green Arrow brings her to the Team’s headquarters, Artemis makes mental notes of a million things. She feels dirty just doing it, but she knows what she’s here for. Even if it makes her feel bad, she has to do her job. These people wouldn’t lift a finger to help her if they knew who she really was. She probably channels this anger a bit too well when she meets them.

 

They zeta to the Cave, and then she meets her new “teammates”. Green Arrow had told her about them earlier, but she didn’t really expect Aqualad or Superboy to be quite so attractive. She didn’t expect Robin to be so small, or Miss Martian to be so nice.

 

She didn’t expect _any_ of them to be this nice. She had expected them to be snobbish, the way that her father always described heroes. Like being a hero is some secret club that she and her family weren’t invited to, like Batman drove her mother off a roof and never apologized for it.

 

She never expected manners like this. Then, Kid Flash finally shows up. He comes in his beach gear, and ends up tripping over a beach umbrella. It’s hilarious, and kind of pathetic. He looks up from the floor.

 

“Uh, who’s that?”

“This is Artemis,” Green Arrow says. He says that as if they should know who she is, and she kind of appreciates it.

“No offense,” Kid Flash says, “but who is that?” If Kid Flash actually acts like this all the time, she might not be the most incompetent person on this team.

“My new side-” she glares, “PARTNER! My new _partner_.” Artemis laughs, and she elbows him.

“I got you there, GA,” she says.

"What?" he asks, sending her a confused look. 

“I’m not _Red Arrow_ ,” she says, rolling her eyes, “You can call me sidekick.”

“Oh, um, alright,” he says. He’s smiling.

“What do you mean, Red Arrow? What happened to Speedy?”

“Recognized Speedy B06” the zeta voice says. Not-Speedy rattles off a witty retort about not being Speedy and being replaceable in 30 seconds flat. Then, after a lot of talking and arguing and dick measuring they go on the mission. 

 

One things leads to another, and the nice Martian girl stands up for her and suddenly she’s fighting against her _sister_ . She hasn’t seen her sister since she left, and god it _hurts._

It hurts, but she forces down the pain and fights anyways. Artemis eventually hits her with knockout gas, which really should do the trick. But Jade gets right up, and she can almost see her sister smirking at her from under the mask.

“The mask has built-in filters,” she quips. Artemis kicks her, but Jade pulls her arms behind her.

“Better luck next time, sis,” she says. Then, Jade pushes her to the ground. She runs away, and it takes Artemis fifteen minutes to corner her again. She shoots three explosive arrows at her, and then aims her bow.

“Don’t move a muscle,” she says. Jade turns around, her signature smirk on her face.

“Wow, I am _completely_ at your mercy.” In Jade speak, that means that she’s just playing with her.

“Save it, _Cheshire_ ,” Artemis says.

“I suppose now you bring me to justice, assuming you _are_ working with the good guys,” Jade says, “did you finally leave dad in the dust?” Apparently, something shows on her face. Jade laughs.

“You didn’t, did you?” Jade asks. She actually sounds concerned. It’s the most sisterly thing Artemis has heard from her since their mom died.

“I did,” Artemis lies. Artemis has never been a good liar, something her father should have taken into account when he sent her on an _undercover_ mission.

“Troi oi,” Jade says, “Artemis, I never thought you’d _stay_ with him.”

“I would have taken you with me, if I knew you’d end up like this,” she says.

“Too late for that,” Artemis says, keeping her bow aimed. Maybe if Jade had acted more like this way back when they were kids then, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Now that they are, though, Artemis is not letting her off the hook just because she acted like she cared for a moment. No, that doesn’t make her family. That’s less than her dad has done. At least he stuck around.

“You really gonna take me in?”

“Uh, _yeah,”_ Artemis says, “I need to cement my position.” Jade actually _laughs._

“You think that’s smart? With all the dirt I’ve got on you. Who do you think will crucify you first, your little Team or the Light.

“They won’t believe you,” Artemis says, “I have a solid cover story.”  

“You wanna take that chance?” Artemis doesn’t want to admit it, but her sister is right. The risks outweigh the benefits. Artemis lowers her bow.

“Didn’t think so.” She steps backwards into a cloud of smoke.

“So like the Cheshire Cat, I disappear,” she says. For a moment, her look softens. 

“You should too.” She disappears, and then the rest of the Team comes barreling outside. Kid Flash continues to be unimpressed with her, but Aqualad commends her. Tells her that she’s a part of the Team now She tries not to feel too proud or at home.  


Even though she lets Cheshire escape, she integrates herself easily. She tells herself that it’s just because she’s a good actress, but she knows that’s not the case. She’s never been any good at acting. Unless, of course, she’s telling a half truth. She’s amazing at telling half truths, and this is no exception.

 

The thing is, Artemis _likes_ these people. She isn’t used to liking anyone, but they’re all such goody goodies. They’ve _always_ been heroes. Other than Superboy, who was a CADMUS clone, they’ve all always been heroes. No one seems to have big secrets, beyond Robin and the damn identity thing.

 

No matter how nice they are, no matter how _likable_ they are, she will never be one of them.

 

Even if she were to come clean, it wouldn’t change that. They would all hate her, for her family and for all the things that she’s done. She reminds herself of that whenever she gets too comfortable.

  


She meets her dad once every few weeks. She informs him of the details that she’s able to glean, and he informs her of absolutely nothing, except that there’s a meeting coming up in Santa Prisca in December. All she knows is that that will be when she ends her mission. Whatever she’s doing here on the Team will be over and done with then, and she’ll go back to the life that she led before.

 

She reminds herself of this, every time that she feels at home with the Team. She reminds herself that it’s temporary, that her time is burning away by the moment. It doesn’t help much.

 

Artemis is able to stay mainly on the edge of the Team fairly easily. Her teammates all like her (except maybe Wally? She can’t tell if what they’re doing is flirting or if they actually hate each other, to be honest) but they give her space. Robin has a secret identity that he keeps under lock and key, and no one thinks it’s weird that she wants the same treatment.

  
Then, Zatanna joins the Team. Zatanna wants to _know_ her. Not know her in the superficial way that their teammates do, but really _know_ her. To understand her on a spiritual level, and see her deepest darkest secrets and her heart’s true desire and all that shit.

 

It’s a little frightening. It’s not because Artemis doesn’t like Zatanna or anything. It’s pretty much the opposite. The girl’s funny and rebellious, and she thinks that she understands the world even though she’s only seen such a small part of it. Out of anyone on the Team, Artemis likes being around her the most.

 

Hell, out of anyone she’s met in years, Artemis likes being around her the most. She _wants_ to open up to her, which is frightening. Artemis can’t afford to that, no matter how much Zatanna promises her she wouldn’t judge her. She knows that other girl would hate her for what she’s done, for what she’s doing. She _knows_ it.

 

* * *

 

  
She and Zatanna are watching a movie in the Cave, but they’re not really _watching._ They’re making jokes about it, and eventually it gets to the point where they’re almost talking, like really talking. Spilling secrets, emotions flying, heart to heart kind of talk. Artemis doesn’t let it escalate to that point, though, and Zatanna’s not pleased.

“Artemis, talk to me, please.” Artemis rolls her eyes as she grabs the popcorn.

“We _are_ talking.”

“Not really,” Zatanna says, “we’re making small talk. This isn’t a deep conversation.”

“Do we need to make deep conversations?”

“Well, I’d _like_ to,” Zatanna says, “You’re my best friend.” If it were anyone else, Artemis would laugh at how saccharine that sounds. Instead, she feels a little flattered.

“We met a few months ago,” Artemis says. She thinks that’s not enough time for Zatanna to call her her best friend, but she doesn’t really know. She hasn’t ever had one, until now she supposes.

“I know that sounds sad and pathetic,” Zatanna says, “but I like you Artemis, a lot. I want to know you  better.” Artemis laughs.

“No, Zee. You really don’t.”

“Artemis, whatever it is can’t be that bad. You’re a good person.” Artemis bites her lip. She’s always wanted to be a good person, but she just never has. She doesn’t think she ever will.

“What you know about me’s enough,” Artemis says, “you wouldn’t like the rest.”

“Try me,” Zatanna says. It’s a challenge, but not one Artemis will rise to.

“Maybe someday,” she lies.

“Alright,” Zatanna says, “fine. But you’ll open up to me eventually.”

“I said maybe,” Artemis says.

“You meant soon,” Zatanna says, grinning. 

“Why are you so sure about that?”

“Because I’m persuasive,” Zatanna says, lying across the entire couch. Artemis laughs as she changes the channel.

“Sure, Zee.”

“I am,” Zatanna says, as the TV turns to a cartoon, “it’ll just take some time.”

“Sure you wanna wait that long?”

“I’m a patient woman,” Zatanna tells her. She sends her a smile, and Artemis’s heart does a somersault. _Fuck,_ she thinks. This was _not_ in the plan.

 

The more time Artemis spends with her, the more that Artemis likes her, which, well. It’s a problem. She finds herself thinking about spending time with Zatanna outside of required Team activities. She finds herself wanting to share things about herself with Zatanna, to show her her favorite movies and talk about her tragic childhood and maybe cuddle and/or make out on the couch.

 

It’s starting to interfere with her mission. She had felt a guilty passing around information before, and had dreaded the day that she would have to outright betray them. Now, she can barely force out any information about Zatanna. She finds that she avoids reporting on her at all, which is a terrible sign.

 

It means that she’s gotten attached, even more so to her than to the others. It means that when she has to inevitably give it all up, it will hurt even more than she already expected it to.

  


The adults all disappear one day. Everyone else freaks out, but Artemis feels a strange sense of calm and relief. That’s probably not how she’s supposed to feel, but she does.

 

God, she wants to feel like this _all_ the time. Without her father weighing down on her, without the fear that he’s going to rip her out of this dream. She wants to feel like this forever, the freedom, the feeling of accomplishment after a mission, the _belonging._ She wants it so badly, even though she can’t have it. She shoves down the feeling, though, and helps the Team bring back the grownups.

 

At Roanoke Island, she finds Klarion, which means that this was a Light setup. The thing about being at the bottom of the power pyramid is that she doesn’t know squat. She barely even knows what she’s doing here, let alone what the Light is really up to. She supposes that’s the point.

 

She fights her hardest, and they win, but they win at a cost.

 

Doctor Fate releases Zatanna, but he takes her father instead. Zatanna falls to the ground, crying. Artemis could never imagine crying like that, over her father. She thinks that she’d feel lost, maybe a little sad, but not devastated, not like the world has collapsed. She certainly wouldn’t feel like it should have been her instead.

But then again, Lawrence Crock and Giovanni Zatara are two very different men.

She and Robin help Zatanna to the Cave, and they all spend a while on the couches in the living room. Zatanna has forced the tears at bay at this point, and has assured everyone that she’s fine. No one believes her, of course, and the atmosphere in the room shows it.

 

There’s a solemn air in the room, and one by one, they peel off. Robin goes first, citing some activity before school the next morning, and Wally follows him immediately. Conner goes next, and he doesn’t come up with an excuse until M’gann scolds him. Fifteen minutes later, M’gann calls it a night as well. M’gann insists that Zatanna come join her when she’s ready to go to bed. She promises that it will be like sleepovers always are in the movies, but Zatanna politely declines. She says that she’d prefer to be alone. Kaldur excuses himself then, and promises to check in on Zatanna in the morning.

 

Artemis wants to leave too. She knows that Zatanna’s emotions are raw. She knows that this will bring out her own, but she also knows that Zatanna doesn’t deserve that. She had called Artemis her best friend, before. Even though Artemis doesn’t deserve the title she feels like she should at least try. Zatanna deserves that much.

Instead she asks, “Do you want to talk?”

“Really?” Zatanna asks. Artemis isn’t sure what she’s asking exactly but she says yes.

“I just- I can’t believe that he’s gone,” she says, “he’s gone, and it’s all my fault.”

“It’s not your fault-”

“It is, Artemis.  I was the stupid one that put on the helmet. I was too weak to do this on my own. I always thought that he was too overprotective. I thought that I could handle doing things on my own, but I couldn’t.”  
  
“You saved the world, Zee. None of this was your fault. You aren’t too weak.”

“But I _was._ If I were stronger, I wouldn’t have needed to use the helmet.”

“Maybe if your dad had let you join the Team, you would be.” Zatanna’s look sours.

“This is not his fault. Don’t you _dare_ imply that.” Artemis had never seen Zatanna truly angry before. She remembers Zatanna yelling at Harm for insulting her father, but she hadn't expected a reaction that volatile. 

“You were complaining about it this morning,” Artemis says, a little defensively. She just- she doesn’t want Zatanna to shoulder all this blame herself. Her dad deserves a portion of it himself. If her own father taught her anything, it was how to fight. Zatara _knew_ his daughter wanted to be a hero. He should have anticipated this, should have helped train her harder.

“That was before he was gone,” Zatanna says, voice somewhere between enraged and broken. _Oh_ , Artemis thinks as she finally understands. Artemis used to get mad at her mom sometimes too, but she doesn’t think she could say anything bad about her now. She loves her, and being dead cements the best parts of someone in your memory.

“He was overprotective, but it was because he loved me, you know?” Artemis doesn’t respond. She knows that anything she would say would be incriminating. Zatanna would realize immediately that they came from very, _very_ different backgrounds.

“Are your parents like that?”

“We don’t need to talk about me,” Artemis says, “You’re the one who just lost your dad.” Zatanna flinches.

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it forever,” she says. Artemis nods.

“I just, I want to be distracted, please.”

“Alright,” Artemis says. She doesn’t have a ton of fun stories, especially ones that won’t tell Zatanna exactly who she is and what her life has been like. But she digs deep, into the crevices of her childhood, and she pulls out one that isn’t incriminating or depressing. She tells Zatanna about her first grade basketball team, and how she’d gotten elbowed in the face. Then she elbowed the girl right back, and the refs only called a foul on her.

“Then my mom made Chè Bắp. It’s this Vietnamese pudding, and it’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”

“I thought you were Korean?” Zatanna asks.

“I, um, I am,” she says, “There’s a lot of things people don’t know about me.” She grimaces at her own poor wording.

“Artemis, what does that mean?” Artemis feels like the world is falling down around her, and she has to _get out._ She stands up immediately, and almost runs to the zeta tube.

“I need to go,” Artemis says. She bolts out of the Cave, and nearly runs to the house. She collapses into the bed that isn’t really hers, and tries not to think about how she’s always living borrowed lives.

* * *

 

  


She wakes up to nine text messages and a voice mail from Zatanna.

 

“Artemis, are you alright?

Dude, what happened?

Arrttteeemmmiiiiisssss

Please text back

I’m worried

Dude please

You don’t have to tell me anything, just let me know you’re alright.

Please Artemis

ARTEMIS”

 

Artemis texts back. She let her know that she’s alright, and that she’ll be over this afternoon to help her move into the Cave and that no, she’s not going to talk about what happened last night but thanks for bringing it up.

So they get Zatanna moved in, and Artemis realizes something. She should have known Zatanna wouldn’t drop it. After Zatanna gets the rest of the kids out of her room, she immediately asks Artemis about what happened last night.

“Look, Zee. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Artemis, whatever it is, I’ll be fine with it,” she says, “I promise.” Artemis believes that Zatanna believes that. She does not, however, believe she will actually be cool with this.

“If I tell you, you aren’t gonna feel that way, _I_ promise.”

“Artemis, what secret do I need to tell you that’ll make you believe me?”

“You don’t _have_ secrets,” Artemis says, “you had the perfect life.” It looks as though Zatanna has been filled with the righteous fury of heaven.

“Look,” she says, “I don’t know what your life has been like. You won’t talk to me about it, but don’t tell me I’ve had it easy.” There’s thinly veiled rage in the statement, but Zatanna is trying to hold back. She really sounds like she doesn’t want to explode on Artemis.

“I want to help you, Artemis, but you won’t let me. You’re my best friend. You know almost everything about me. I wanna return the favor.” Artemis bites her lip.

“You aren’t gonna like this, Zee. And you aren’t gonna like me afterwards.” Zatanna sends her a soft look.

“Try me,” she challenges. She knows that this is an awful idea. She knows that she shouldn’t do this, but she wants to. No matter how much she shouldn’t, she wants to tell Zatanna. She takes a deep breath.

“You know how Red Arrow keeps shouting about there being a mole?” Artemis asks cautiously.

“Yeah,” Zatanna says, scoffing, “that’s so ridiculous. Like any of us would rat out the Team.” _Well_ , Artemis thinks sarcastically, _that’s a good fucking sign._

“It’s me.”

“What?” Zatanna asks.

“I’m the mole,” Artemis says softly.

“Artemis, I don’t understand.”

“My father is Sportsmaster,” she says, “he works for an organization called the Light. They wanted someone on the Team. They sent me to infiltrate it.” Zatanna’s eyes widen, and she shoots off the couch like a speedster. There’s a certain way that magicians hold their hands when they expect a fight, out in front of them like they’re pushing someone away. Zatanna is holding her hands like that. It makes Artemis feel like a monster.

“Zee,” she says softly, “ I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Sure you’re not.”

“You think I would have told you this if I wanted to go through with it?” Artemis demands.

“Villains monologue. It happens.”

“Look, I’m not a villain." Zatanna glares.

“At least, I don’t _want_ to be. You know that weird Shakespeare quote about greatness?” Zatanna sends her a confused look.

“That thing about some people being born great, some people achieving it and some people having greatness thrust on them or whatever?” Zatanna nods slightly in understanding.

“Some people don’t want to be villains, but they’re born that way.”

“You’re saying you had to be a villain, because your dad was.” Zatanna sounds unconvinced.

“It’s not just my dad,” Artemis says, “it’s my mom and my sister too.” She explains a little more about her family tree. She tells her about her mother’s career as Huntress and her sister’s career as Cheshire.

“You wanted to be a villain because you thought you were destined to be one? Like the chosen one of evil or something?” Artemis groans.

“Not destined in a good way. Destined in an awful way, an unavoidable way. Like no matter what I did, no matter where I went, villainy would find me. That eventually, villainy would be thrust upon me so I should just accept it.”

“You know, in context, that quote’s an innuendo,” Zatanna informs her.

“What?”

“The quote about having greatness thrust upon you.” Artemis finds herself grinning a little. Zatanna’s joking, which means that she’s at least _trying_ to understand. It means she hasn’t lost the battle yet.

“I’d thrust my greatness on you,” Artemis says. For a moment, Artemis wonders if she went a bit too far. Artemis has never been shy about flirting, but she’s never been really good at it either. Zatanna blushes as she laughs.

“Sure you would,” she says. Artemis shrugs like she hasn’t made up her mind yet.

“If you were the mole,” Zatanna asks, “does this mean you quit?” Artemis nods. She hadn’t thought it through that much, but the answer is so obvious. She doesn’t want to betray them, and she doesn’t want to go back. She doesn’t _ever_ want to go back.

“I don’t want to go back,” Artemis says, “I feel more at home, more loved here than I have at home since mom died. I wanna stay here. I wanna keep being a hero.”

“You could live at the Cave with the rest of us,” Zatanna suggests. Artemis grins.

“Yeah,” Artemis says, “that sounds _wonderful._ Do you really think we could make that happen?”

“Batman said that he’d help me with anything I needed,” Zatanna says, “so I think we could pull a few strings.”

“I- I infiltrated the Team, Zee,” Artemis says, “you really think he’d just let it slide?” Artemis doesn’t know one way or another.

“You’re just a kid, Artemis,” Zatanna says, “Batman has a soft spot for kids.” Zatanna _is_ right. She remembers running missions in Gotham. She knows that Batman had gone easy on her, because he could tell she was a kid. He even made vague allusions to helping her get out of the life.

 

She doesn’t like Batman, still kind of blames him for her mother’s fall, but she trusts that he’s a man with a code. He might be willing to help. She thinks that Green Arrow might too, even though she tricked him. He’s still been so gentle with Red Arrow, even though he’s done everything in his power to undermine him at every turn.

 

She thinks that this could work.

* * *

 

Batman wants her to play triple agent. He wants her to pretend to still be on her father’s side until Santa Prisca. Zatanna isn’t happy. Artemis isn’t happy either, but she thinks that she needs to do this. She spent so much time feeding her father and the Light information about her friends that she ought to at least try to do the same for her friends.

 

She doesn’t like it. She doesn’t like returning to her host family every night, or pretending to give her father information, but she does it. And she’ll only have to do it a little while longer before the meeting in Santa Prisca.

 Zatanna doesn't likes it even less, and she's not quiet about it.

"I promise, Zee," Artemis says, "I'll be careful. I've been a double agent before."

"This is your dad, Artemis," Zatanna says, "do you really think you can fool him?" The thing is, Artemis doesn't _know_ . She's going to _try_ though. If she wants this change of sides, she knows that she has to work for it.

 

Batman thinks that they should refrain from telling the rest of the team until Artemis finishes the mission, which is understandable. She remembers how the rest of the Team reacted earlier in the year when they found out there might be a mole. Unless she has tangible evidence that she is no longer a mole, she probably shouldn’t tell them that she was one to begin with.

 

The day of the meeting finally comes, and Artemis is legitimately surprised. It turns out that Conner is also being summoned to Santa Prisca to get something from Lex Luthor.

"You're going to Santa Prisca?" Artemis asks.

"I wasn't planning on it,” Conner says, and Artemis starts laughing. Hard. Zatanna looks terrified, like she’s trying to find a way to cover for her.

"Santa Prisca means god's glorious asshole in Vietnamese," Zatanna says. Artemis laughs even harder at that asspull of an explanation.

"I thought Artemis was Korean?" Wally asks, like somehow, in all of that bullshit, the language and nationality of choice was what was important. It is a nice change of pace from the interchangeable Asian thing, though. Artemis thinks she ought to get this over with. She’s going to have to now.

"I'm Vietnamese," she says.

"But you said you were Korean," Wally says. Zatanna just sort of glares at him.

"Rob, back me up here, please.”

"Artemis did say that."

"I did say I was Korean. I haven't been honest with you guys.”

“Why would you lie about your ethnicity?” Wally asks, “did you think we’d still have hard feelings about ‘Nam or something?” She glares at him. She can’t even process how fucking ridiculous that was.

“Sorry,” he says, “that wasn’t a good joke.” She lets out a frustrated breath of air, and steels herself for the confession. She might have to deal with much worse than Wally’s ‘Nam joke.

"My dad constructed a whole fake identity for me so I could infiltrate this team. He put me with a _Korean_ foster family," she says, rolling her eyes, "even my dad thinks all Asians are interchangeable."

“You’re saying you’re the mole?” Wally asks.

“I haven’t been for about a month,” she says, “I came out to Zatanna about it, and we worked out something with Batman. I was going to go to Santa Prisca, and then the League would follow me and raid the meeting.” Wally crosses his arms over his chest, and he looks furious.

“How do we know you’re not lying right now?”

“Come _on_ KF,” Robin says, “she’s telling the truth.”  

“Wait, you knew?”

“Batman knew from the beginning,” Robin says, “he let you on this Team because he thought you were a good kid.”

“A good kid?” Artemis asks, laughing nervously.

“Yeah, you were Tigress, right?”

“My criminal ID made Batman think I was a good kid?” Artemis asks skeptically.

“You were always efficient, but you never really hurt anyone. Not even broken bones. Most criminals end up killing people once they start running jobs that high profile.”

“So you two let a mole on the Team because she didn’t kill people?” Wally asks. Robin shrugs nonchalantly. She thinks that he should be a little chalant about this. 

“Rob, we tell each other _everything_ ,” he says. He sounds so insulted, almost betrayed.

"Sorry man," Robin says. He sounds a little remorseful, but not enough that he wouldn't do it again. He just sounds sorry that Wally feels bad about it. 

“Fine,” Wally says, rolling his eyes, “anybody else have any secrets? Any more meet ups planned at Santa Prisca? Any more moles?” M’gann has almost curled into herself.

“I um, I’m supposed to go to Santa Prisca too,” she says.

“It was a figure of speech!” Wally shouts.

“Dude,” Robin says, “please calm down. This isn’t helping anything.” Wally frowns, but doesn’t say anything as M’gann details how she had been blackmailed by Queen Bee and shows them her true Martian form.

 

Then they all decide to take on the mission alone, without the League’s backup. Which, well, it’s probably stupid. But they decide to do it as a Team, as a _family_ and really, that’s all Artemis has ever wanted. She can’t stop to think it through long enough to tell them not to.

 

She meets her father at the predetermined spot, and gets into his plane. He looks over at her with something like pride in his eyes.

“What?” Artemis asks, “did you miss me or something?” He laughs, like the idea is preposterous.

“What is it?”

“You passed,” he says, like it should be obvious.

“I passed what?”

“Your test of loyalty.” Artemis feels rage swelling inside her.

“This was a _test?”_ Artemis demands.

“Yeah, baby girl, one that you passed. You’re getting promoted.” There’s a warmth in his tone, one that she hasn’t heard since she completed her first job. It almost makes her feel conflicted about her decision.

“My family’ll finally get some respect around here,” he says. Any warmth towards him she felt a moment ago vanishes. He’s never cared about her as a person, just as his tool. He’s only ever cared about what she can do for him.

“Can’t wait,” she says. He rolls his eyes.

“Cheer up, baby girl,” he says, “it’s gotta be better than listening to those little heroes go on and on about truth and justice.” She laughs.

“Yeah,” she says, trying for sarcastic and landing on flat, “anything’s better than that.” They’re silent for the rest of the flight.

 

They land on the island and join the meeting, and Conner and M’gann are both already there. She pretends to be an arrogant traitor, and they pretend to be righteously betrayed well enough that no one knows the difference.

Until, of course, they attack Conner. Then she has to retaliate. Artemis can’t see her father’s face under the mask. She doesn’t care to see the expression.

“You have been a very naughty girl,” he growls while twirling his fucking nunchucks.

“Reinforcement time,” she nearly screams in her mind. Her father’s never actually beaten her. She’s never been sure if that was out of affection, or because he knew she couldn’t fight properly if he did. It’s always been hard to tell if there ever was any affection or not with her dad. She has, however, gotten enough major injuries from _sparring_ with her father. She doesn’t want to fight now, right after he learned that she betrayed him. She aims her bow at his head, but she can’t help feeling _deathly_ afraid.

 

The fight is chaos. Most fights are, but this one is on a whole different level. There are so many people fighting with so many different styles and powers. Suddenly, he’s knocked her to the ground and he’s glaring down at her, spinning his weapon.

 

“You know I don’t tolerate disobedience, Artemis.” She pushes herself off the ground.

“Yeah, dad,” she says, “learned that the hard way.”

“Baby girl, you don’t know the _half_ of it yet.” She steals herself, and considers fighting. Instead she runs towards where she sees Zatanna fighting. Kaldur sends her a message with a suggested plan, and she doesn’t even have to consider it. She thinks yes at him instantly.

“Artemis,” Kaldur tells her, “now!” She jumps up to grab the branch, and lets Kaldur submerge her father in a swamp. She jumps onto her father, and uses him as a stepping stone to get out of the swap.

“You gonna let me drown here, after everything I’ve done for you?” he demands. Artemis laughs, bitterly.

“Yeah,” she tells him. She kicks him in the face, and his mask falls onto the ground. Zatanna walks up beside her.

“Are you alright?”

“Been better,” she says. It’s true, but not as true as she’d really think. Zatanna picks up the mask.

“Do you, um, do you want to keep it?” Zatanna asks. Artemis knows that she’s asking about it because of Wally’s souvenir thing. It might make sense to keep it, to remember that she defeated him, remember that she can defeat him.

Artemis doesn’t even feel guilty. She feels _good_ about it. She feels strong, confident. She feels free. Perhaps, destiny wasn’t so set in stone. Maybe the only clawing, inescapable Eldritch beast was her father. That was probably the case all along.

She looks at the mask, and really thinks about whether or not she wants to take it. Artemis doesn’t _want_ to keep it, though. The only thing that she needs to remember she won is her life and the way that it’s going now. She doesn’t want to keep a reminder of what has been. She’s _lived_ it. Instead, she chucks the mask, and nails him in the head with it. Zatanna nods, like she understands. Artemis thinks that she might.

“Thanks, Zee.”

“I’ve got your back, Artemis. You know that.” Artemis nods. She thinks that she believes it now. No matter what way life takes her, she can count on Zatanna to stand by her. It’s a comforting feeling, to actually have something consistent like that. It’s the closest thing she’s ever had to the Disney sort of destiny, the true love’s kiss variety. She feels silly for even thinking that, but it’s just a thought. She doesn’t have to act on it. Her time isn’t burning up anymore. She feels like she has forever, and a place in the world.

Artemis and Zatanna walk side by side as they look for the rest of the Team. When they meet up with them, Kaldur tells them they succeeded, and for the first time she can feel that victory. For the first time in her life, Artemis feels like she _belongs._


End file.
